2007-08-17 Driver's Ed

I have heard that Waubonsie Valley has an excellent Driver’s Education program. I doubt that my family will ever find out. My own children and many others do not take Driver’s Ed through school for a variety of reasons, but the two main reasons at my house are that we want to start driver’s education as soon as is reasonable, and the fact that our teenagers would have to miss out on some other necessary course in order to take it at school.

At the time of this writing, my daughter Kathy is just finishing the first week of three for the classroom portion of Driver’s Ed through a local agency. Though the cost of this program is slightly more than double the $200 WV charges, it is well worth it to us for her to take this class outside of school. She will be able to get her license anytime after her sixteenth birthday, rather than having to wait a minimum of five extra months and she can start driving now rather than in five or twelve more months. I would never want a teen to get a license before they are ready to drive on their own, but prefer they be given every chance to be ready for their license at sixteen.

Due to high school graduation and college entrance requirements, it can be difficult for serious students to get all the classes they want and need packed into four years of high school. Driver’s Ed is a semester course required for graduation which can be taken either privately or at school.

If a student takes one each of the core and required classes - math, science, social studies, English, and PE, they are left with two class periods a day to take foreign language and pursue or seek their passion among the many other courses available. This leaves no class periods available for Driver's Ed.

A student is not eligible to take this class at school until the semester or summer in which they turn sixteen, or possibly later since priority is given in birthday order. With the new laws in place this means that a student who takes Driver's Ed at school may not be able to get their license until many months after their sixteenth birthday.

I want my teens driving as soon as is reasonably possible so they will get lots of practice before college with their parents readily available to give supervision and guidance. I also want them to have the opportunity to go places and do things that don’t require me to drive them once they’ve reached this age of independence.

Hundreds of Waubonsie families each year are left pursuing private Driver's Ed classes. Despite the additional cost, these courses offer the benefit of not taking up a class period at school as well as allowing the student to begin learning to drive as soon as they turn fifteen. Since teens will now be required to have their permit for at least nine months before getting their license, and need at least fifty hours of driving experience, this gives plenty of time to get this experience in before age sixteen.

I wish there were a reasonable way for my children and many others who are dedicated students to take this class through school. I wonder why Indian Prairie students couldn’t be offered a semester of driver’s education in lieu of PE, or perhaps offered the course immediately before or after the regular school day. This would allow the classroom portion of Driver's Ed to be spread out over months rather than just a few weeks. This would also free us parents from having to drive to and from Driver's Ed several times in addition to all the other driving we already do.

In light of the changes in Driver’s License requirements it would be nice if there were some way that students could take Driver’s Ed at school if they turn fifteen (rather than sixteen) by a certain date. These cases might include teens who have a four year course plan with no room for Driver’s Ed or those who meet a certain minimum GPA.

I know that some students are able to take advantage of the summer offering of Driver’s Ed through school. Even if it weren’t for the prioritizing by birthday that wouldn’t allow my children to do this until after they turn sixteen, there would still be the conflict of summer trips out of town as well as finding transportation to and from school. Students whose parents work and have no easy walking route, no safe biking route, and no public transportation to school may not have any reasonable way to attend daytime classes.

For new drivers and their parents, I recommend the book Crashproof Your Kids by Timothy C. Smith and the Driver’s Edge teen program (see www.driversedge.com).

While my oldest isn’t too excited about sharing the car and I won’t be happy to pay even higher car insurance bills, I’m definitely looking forward to having another driver in the house.